The U.S. Patent Office has seen its share of brilliant ideas—and some gloriously strange ones. Among the once-officially patented: a crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich (yes, someone tried to own your lunch), and even a method for swinging on a swing (as in, pumping your legs like kids have always done). Both of those were later overturned—but not before they were granted.

Then there’s the motorized ice cream cone that spins itself so your tongue can stay still, a bird diaper, an underwater tricycle, and even a helmet with a spring-loaded punching glove—intended to jolt daydreamers back to focus.

These offbeat ideas may not have revolutionized the world, but they were real, filed, and at least briefly protected. Proof that in the world of patents, imagination has no brakes.